Survivor takes shots for dividing teams by ethnicity

Survivor's risks bring on the buzzReality show takes shots for dividing teams by ethnicity

From Staff And Wire Reports

Published 5:30 am, Friday, August 25, 2006

Photo: MONTY BRINTON, CBS

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Dividing tribes based on race could result in stereotyping, says Jolanda Jones, a 2004 Survivor contestant.

Dividing tribes based on race could result in stereotyping, says Jolanda Jones, a 2004 Survivor contestant.

Photo: MONTY BRINTON, CBS

Survivor takes shots for dividing teams by ethnicity

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Reality programs have always courted controversy, but by dividing 20 contestants into four different teams based on race the CBS show Survivor is going where even the Fox network has not dared to tread.

For the 13th edition of the show, which debuts Sept. 14, there will be an Asian-American team, an African-American team, a Hispanic team and a white team. Eventually the team members will unite to form diverse teams.

"I think the new show will contribute to stereotyping," said Houston native Jolanda Jones, a Survivor contestant in 2004. "Don't segregate the races and market it like that. But, I suspect a lot of people will watch it. People are talking about it. I can see a lot of really nasty stuff happening."

Host Jeff Probst said that the idea came after criticism that Survivor was not ethnically diverse enough.

"I think it fits in perfectly with what Survivor does — it is a social experiment," he told Harry Smith on CBS' Early Show on Wednesday. "And this is adding another layer to that experiment, which is taking the show to a completely different level."

Jones had a simpler solution. "I say, just put more minorities on the show and don't make it an issue."

But the decision may instead be part of a strategy by CBS to gain renewed notice for the reality show, which debuted in 2000 and has seen its ratings decline in recent years.

Most editions of the show have had more than 20 million viewers, and Survivor has been a fixture in the Nielsen ratings Top 10.

However, average ratings have dipped below 20 million for some recent editions of the show, and the finale for its most recent outing, Survivor Panama: Exile Island, garnered 17 million viewers, the smallest finale audience in the show's history.

Regardless of the ratings, however, the pre-show hype isn't what it was in the show's heyday.

"I think this definitely creates more interest in the show, more than anything else has in the past two seasons. It's getting us to talk about the show well before it debuts," said Andy Dehnart, a professor at Florida's Stetson University and editor of the popular reality-TV show Web site RealityBlurred.com. "This has the potential to bring the show back into the pop-culture conversation."